


And That's A Wrap

by pikestaff (pikaslew)



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Humor, M/M, Parody, Personal fantasies, Pining, film school, i'll update the rating if it does, this is what i'm doing with my degree, this might turn into smut eventually i'm not sure yet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-16 21:59:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 7,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9291329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pikaslew/pseuds/pikestaff
Summary: Anders is trying to write his screenplay for his final project but he keeps getting distracted by thoughts of his cute classmate, Fenris.  Maybe if he can work his little fantasies into his project, he can do both at once.aka, Pike has an actual film degree and is using it to write fanfiction of video game characters.





	1. Fade In

**Author's Note:**

> This is loosely based on a prompt by TearsOfWinter in the DA Weird Shit™ Discord chat, although I kind of ran with it in a different direction.

Anders couldn’t concentrate.

He was _supposed_ to be writing a screenplay for his final project, his magnum opus before he finally graduated film school and could go onto writing movies full time. Well. Maybe full time. He was fully aware of how difficult it was to actually break into the industry.

As far as Anders was concerned, though, this was his life’s work. He loved pouring his thoughts into a script and making people _think_ about serious topics through stories. His screenwriting professor, one Professor Tethras, had even told him he had a knack for it.

 _Sure wish I could summon that knack now_ , Anders thought, as he stared at the blank screen ahead of him. Currently, he had two words up on the page:

**FADE IN**

Which was… not a particularly exciting start, but it was a start nonetheless. At least it gave him the illusion that he had made some progress, even if the truth was that he had made exactly none.

He turned his head and looked out the window. Idly, he wondered if he would see a Certain Someone at the apartment building across from him.

That Certain Someone was a fellow film student named Fenris.

Anders and Fenris had never talked, much, outside of a few heated disagreements over whether or not Citizen Kane or Casablanca was the better movie. (Anders liked Casablanca more because, according to Fenris, he was a hopeless romantic. Anders couldn’t really deny that part.)

But Anders admired him from afar. Fenris was studious, and driven, and he had a knack for editing that made the other students jealous. He had a wealth of film knowledge but he never flaunted it.

Oh, and he was cute. He was _terribly_ cute. He had a strong nose and intense eyes and a voice with a purr that could melt the hardest heart and…

Anders tried to pull his mind away from him and concentrate on his project again. But the words just wouldn’t come, and nor would the ideas, and the blinking cursor continued to haunt him, and, frustrated, he leaned back in his chair, his hands up behind his head.

If only he could summon up the courage to ask Fenris to work on the project with him. With their combined imaginations and know-how, he was sure they could make the Final Project to End All Final Projects, one that would blow all the professors away.

His thoughts about asking Fenris to work on the project with him drifted into the thought of asking Fenris out on a date, something which he knew he would never actually do because he was too scared to do it, but it was nice to daydream about, sometimes.

Anders rubbed his eyes. No. He was not going to sit here and pine over Fenris when he had work to do.

Usually, when he was feeling some sort of frustrating emotion particularly deeply, he would try to channel it into his scripts. But that was a little difficult to do when he had no plot.

Unless…

Anders furrowed his eyebrows. Maybe he _could_ turn his frustration into a plot.

He leaned forward now, hands poised above the keyboard. Okay, yes. This was going to work.


	2. EXT. AIRPORT HANGAR - NIGHT

It was dark and there was a chill in the air and Fenris was looking up at Anders with eyes that were green and beautiful and scared. “What?” he asked. “Get on the plane? What do you mean?”

Anders was in a trenchcoat and matching stylish hat, and he was looking off into the distance with wistful eyes. He was looking anywhere but at Fenris, really. “I mean what I said. You’re getting on the plane.”

“But what about you?” asked Fenris. “You can’t stay—”

“I am,” said Anders. His voice was firm. He was still looking away. “I’m staying and making sure the plane gets away safely.”

Fenris’ eyes widened with realization. “But. But Anders. Last night—”

“We said a great many things last night,” said Anders with a sad smile. “Do you have any idea what we’d have to look forward to if you stayed here? You don’t want to get mixed up with a guy like me. I’m a loner, Fenris. A rebel.”

Fenris’ voice hardened. “You’re just staying this to make me go.”

“I’m saying it because it’s true,” said Anders. “Hawke needs you. You know that. If that plane takes off and you’re not on it, you’re going to regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow…” Anders paused for dramatic effect. “But soon. And for the rest of your life.”

“But what about us?” Fenris took a step closer so now he was mere inches away from Anders.

And finally Anders looked at him. “We’ll always have Kirkwall. Fenris, I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of nugs in this world.” He held up a few gentle fingers and brushed a lock of gorgeous white hair out of Fenris’ eyes. “Here’s looking at you, kid…”

Fenris looked at him lovingly, his chest heaving and his breath short, and he looked back at Hawke, then back at Anders… and then he turned and ran for the plane. Anders watched him go, stoically, and then Varric came and stood beside him. Together they watched the plane fly away, and it felt to Anders that his heart was disappearing into the skies with it. But embraced the pain, that painful ache in his chest, until he felt Varric clapping him on the shoulder. “Well, Anders, you’re not only a sentimentalist, but a patriot as well.”

“Seemed like a good time to start,” Anders shrugged.

The two of them turned and walked slowly towards the runway.

“You know, you might want to disappear from the Free Marches for a while. Maybe go back to Ferelden. I could be induced to arrange a passage,” said Varric.

“I could use a trip,” said Anders, doing his best to keep his voice light. “But it doesn’t make any difference about our bet. You still owe me a hundred sovereigns.”

“And that should pay our expenses,” said Varric.

“ _Our_ expenses?”

“Yep.”

Anders chuckled. “Varric, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

—

_Knock knock knock knock._

Anders was yanked out of his fantasy— and new rough draft— by a harsh rapping on his door. He blinked. He hadn’t been expecting company. Nor had he ordered a pizza (yet) (although he was probably going to end up doing that later). He stood and approached the door tentatively and looked through the peephole.

It was Fenris.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~Can you spot the 80s movie quote within a 40s movie quote~~
> 
> This is most certainly NOT finished yet, but don't worry, I have... _plans_.


	3. Interlude One

For a moment, Anders had no idea how to react. Fenris, the guy he’d been fantasizing about, was standing right there outside his apartment. Anders’ throat suddenly felt very tight.

Then he realized he shouldn’t keep him there waiting, so he opened the door and did his best to act surprised. “Fenris?” he asked. He was worried that the word came out sounding more like a squeak.

Fenris, for his part, hadn’t noticed if it had. “Anders? I apologize if coming to your place like this this is a bit unconventional, but I didn’t have your email or your phone number.”

“Oh, no, no, it’s all right,” said Anders quickly. Perhaps too quickly, if the way Fenris looked at him then was any indication.  _Breathe and act cool_ , Anders told himself. “What I mean is, can I help you with something?”

“I… yes, maybe,” said Fenris. “I was wondering if you had any partners for the final project yet.”

Anders only very briefly wondered if he was dreaming before replying, “Not yet.”

Fenris nodded. “Well. Would you like to work together, then? I’m not in a group yet either.”

Anders was briefly stunned at the fact that a promising student like Fenris was somehow not in a group yet, but he opted not to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Um, yeah, we can do that,” he said, stumbling over his words. “Did you have anything in mind, or…?”

Fenris shook his head. “I know you prefer to write, so if you want to write and direct, I can handle the editing and camera work.”

This was perfect. Or, at least, would have been, if Anders’ only idea so far hadn’t revolved around the person he was now working with. Still, there would be time to worry about that later. For now, the fact that he and Fenris were working on a project together was enough to energize him. “Yeah, that sounds great,” Anders said, trying not to sound _too_ eager about it all.

“Here, let me give you my phone number,” said Fenris, and Anders nodded and pulled out his phone and tried not to think about how a stunningly cute guy was giving him his number (for reasons that may or may not have been related to school, but hey.) Soon enough that was finished and Fenris left, and Anders was thrilled by the entire thing. Still, he tried not to get overly worked up about it. He had a lot of work to do if he was going to impress him with his writing.

He took a moment to pace around his apartment to try to work out his excess nervous energy, much to the bewilderment of his cat, Ser Pounce, who watched him curiously from his vantage point on his cat tree. Finally Anders felt ready to begin work on his project again and he sat down at his computer.

He looked at what he had so far and promptly decided that it wouldn’t work. First of all, it would take a ton of extra time and effort to either locate an airport hangar that would be willing to accommodate a student film crew, or create a stage that looked like one. Oh, and that didn’t even mention that whole bit about how it was blatantly about his new project partner. No, this wouldn’t do. He would start from scratch and create a new movie.

So he cleared his mind— or at least tried to— and thought. And thought. And thought some more. But all he could think about was Fenris and the way his hair managed to fall right in front of his eyes and how it was a rare gift when he smiled and maybe he could write a romantic comedy, those were easy to fit into a student budget, and—

Anders shook his head. No. No, he was being ridiculous. He wasn’t going to write a romantic comedy. Especially not one that would be so blatantly about his project partner.

…but maybe he could write about his project partner now, and then go back in and change the names around later? That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?

No, it was all still utterly, thoroughly absurd. Anders tried to shove those pesky thoughts of Fenris out of his mind, again, and but the thoughts kept coming, and soon he was typing furiously into his keyboard again.


	4. INT. RESTAURANT - DAY

“So,” said Isabela as she munched on an appetizer. “Now that we’ve all graduated, we can focus on important things. Like who is going to hook up with who.”

“Who wants to take bets on who’s going to get married first?” said Hawke.

“Marriage? Who said anything about marriage?” Isabela retorted.

“Ooh, I bet Anders is going to get married first,” said Merrill.

Anders almost choked on his drink. “Me? Married? I doubt it.”

And now Fenris spoke up. “Anders can’t be a good rebel without a cause if he’s tied down to someone.”

“Hey, I resemble that remark,” Anders snarked.

“What about you, Fenris?” Merrill asked.

“Yeah,” said Isabela, and she turned to look at him. “Has our dear Fenris found anyone special?”

“Fenris is too much like me,” said Anders. “He’s a free spirit.”

Fenris snorted. “I am nothing like you.”

“Well, you’ll have to prove it, then,” said Anders. “If you’re nothing like me, then only one of us can be the brooding eternal bachelor.”

“Aww, you two are too cute,” Isabela crooned. “If anyone should hook up, it should be you two.”

“What?” Anders and Fenris both exclaimed at the same time.

“See? Your thoughts are already perfectly in sync!” said Isabela.

“We are not in sync,” said Fenris.

“How do I know you’re both not just terrible at dating?” Isabela asked.

“I can assure you that’s not the case,” said Fenris.

“Yeah, what he said,” said Anders.

“Really? Then you should play a little game,” said Isabela. She leaned forward, eyes sparkling. “You each have until the end of the month to have a successful date with someone. Doesn’t matter who. And if neither of you can pull it off, then you have to date each other.”

“What? That’s absurd,” said Fenris.

“Not up to the challenge?” Anders ribbed him.

“I didn’t say that,” said Fenris.

“So we’re on, then?” asked Anders.

Fenris narrowed his green eyes a bit. “We are—”

 

—

 

“Meow!”

Anders looked down from his new document. Ser Pounce was sitting down there at the base of Anders’ computer chair, looking up at him. He meowed again.

“Right, right,” said Anders, checking the time. “Dinner time.” He stood and fed Pounce his dinner, and then when he came back to his study he decided that he wasn’t sure if he liked what he had written. A romantic comedy, really? It would be easy enough to shoot, he was sure, since it could all be done on location, but that wouldn’t make the best use of Fenris’ skill with the camera and editing. Oh, and speaking of Fenris, what if he saw through the blatant metaphor? Even if Anders went in and changed all the names?

Anders sighed and closed the document. He was thinking of Fenris again, because of course he was. Those eyes, that silky hair, that voice—

Well. He would have to talk to Fenris in class the next day, anyway, and maybe then they could brainstorm some more ideas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I actually kind of want to see this mini AU as a full blown fic, now.
> 
> Thanks for the comments so far! More updates soon!!


	5. Interlude Two

School the next day was rather distracting. Anders wished he had been able to say he had been paying attention to lecture, but the truth was that he spent most of it looking at Fenris, who was sitting a few rows down, rather than at his professor. Fenris was studious and took notes in a neat hand and had a mug of coffee with him and the way he furrowed his brows when he concentrated on something was very cute and Anders had to keep looking the other way so no one would notice his little obsession.

Anders did catch up to him after class was over, though, and he was pleased that he actually had an excuse to do so. Fenris looked happy to see him, but Anders wasn’t sure if that was a trick of the light, or his imagination, or maybe just the fact that Fenris was glad to get the project underway. Anders shoved the thought from his mind and got down to business. He wanted to ask Fenris for ideas about he should write. “Hey, so, about that project—” he started.

“Yes, that,” said Fenris. “I assume you’ve got a screenplay ready to go?”

“Y—yes!” Anders said, and immediately he mentally kicked himself for it. Of course he didn’t. That was what he wanted to talk to Fenris about in the first place. But no, here he was, trying to impress him, apparently.

Fenris nodded. “I was hoping to start filming soon,” he said. “To get an early start on it so I’ll have plenty of time to edit. Maybe this weekend. Would you mind sending me what you’ve got? Here, I’ll give you my email.”

Oh this was bad. “I’m uh, putting some finishing touches on it,” said Anders. “But I’ll get it to you before the weekend, for sure.” So he had three days to miraculously produce a functional screenplay. Shit.  Good job, Anders, he thought to himself.

Fenris didn’t seem to notice his frantic tone as he gave him his email address. They parted ways shortly after, as Anders didn’t want to make things worse than they already were, and he went home and sat rather sullenly in front of his computer and stared at the screen. So, great. Not only was Fenris expecting a complete screenplay by the weekend, but he was expecting one that had been polished up to perfection.

Anders sighed as he tried to think of something. It had to intelligent, it had to be riveting, it had to be something that would impress the professors, and it had to be something that Fenris would enjoy digging into with his talent.

Maybe a period piece?

Or maybe a fantasy? Fantasies were all the rage, right?

Hmm.

A fantasy wouldn’t be too difficult to build a set for. There were fields and forests outside of Kirkwall, too. They would just need some costumes and…

The more Anders thought about it, the more this sounded doable. It was worth a shot, at least. So he opened up his screenwriting program and began to write.


	6. INT. CASTLE DUNGEON - NIGHT

Fenris the wizard was refusing to talk.

Oh, the Knights had him chained to a chair, and they were torturing him to the best of their ability, but Fenris wouldn’t budge an inch as he glared at them with narrowed eyes. And that’s when Anders, the mighty warrior, burst in with his giant sword and—

—

Anders stopped typing and stared at the screen for a moment. No, this was off. This was definitely off. He wasn’t sure what, exactly, but somehow it wasn’t right. He deleted it and tried again.

—

Anders the wizard was refusing to talk.

The Knights had him chained to a chair and the Knight-Captain, a man with wavy blonde hair, was doing his best to interrogate him. “I’ll give you one last chance before things get difficult.” He whirled on Anders. “Where is the rebellion hideout?”

Anders stared at him stoically, refusing to say a word. They wouldn’t get anything out of him. He knew Fenris would be along soon to rescue him. He just had to hold out a little longer.

“I see,” said the Knight-Captain. “Perhaps you don’t take our current threats seriously. In that case…” he turned around briefly and another Knight handed him something. When the Knight-Captain turned back to Anders, he was wielding a brand of some sort. Anders’ heart thumped in his chest. The one thing that would terrify any wizard. The Rite of Serenity.

“Now,” said the Knight-Captain. “I’ll give you one final chance. Will you talk, or—”

And that’s when Fenris, the mighty warrior, burst in with his giant sword. “You will unhand him,” he told the Knight-Captain evenly.

The Knight-Captain, for his part, retained his composure. He may have even smirked. “You’re not the only one here with a sword, intruder,” he said, and he pulled out his own.

“That may be true,” said Fenris, “But I’ve got something you don’t.”

“Oh?”

Fenris stepped forward and in one swift move he shoved his hand, now glowing blue, into the Knight-Captain’s chest, crushing his heart. The man fell to the ground and the other Knights swiftly fled the scene as Fenris approached Anders. “Are you alright?” he asked.

“I’ve been better,” said Anders. He admired Fenris’ strong arms and nimble hands as he worked to free Anders from the chains that had him bound.

“Did they hurt you at all?” Fenris asked.

“A bit,” said Anders. “Nothing I couldn’t handle, of course,” he added, and noted Fenris’ admiration for his bravery. “They were threatening the Rite of Serenity, though.”

“I would never allow it,” said Fenris, and he smiled.

Anders smiled back. “You know,” he said, “Now that you’ve freed me… I suppose…” He sidled into Fenris’ arms. “I suppose there’s only one thing for it.”

“And what’s that?” said Fenris with a low voice as he looked into Anders’ eyes.

“Well, I’m going to have to thank you for freeing me,” said Anders.

“Mmm,” Fenris rumbled appreciatively. “I suppose you will. And how do you propose you’ll do that?”

“I have a few ideas,” Anders replied, and he leaned forward and—

—

Anders stopped typing now and stared at the document. He could scarcely believe what he was in the process of writing. Not only had it turned, once again, into schmaltzy daydreaming about his project partner, but it was all terribly unbelievable. A warrior that could phase through people’s bodies to crush their hearts? A mystical Rite of Serenity? And what a terrible name that was, too. No, this was all much too cheesy. It sounded like the set up for some sort of lame video game. Not to mention all the special effects would be expensive.

Alright, alright, he would scratch all of this and try again. Maybe it hadn’t all been for naught, though. He could still do a period piece, but one with less flair. Maybe he could…

Anders flexed his fingers and opened a new document. Yep, he had a new idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Anders, what've you gotten yourself into now?? And what's his next idea going to be?? Stay tuned...


	7. EXT. MANSION - DAY

Fenris made a smart, dashing picture in his hunt cap and red suit as he mounted his horse and reined it around the courtyard. They started at a walk, first, and then moved to a trot, and finally into a full canter and gallop as they raced around the field and leaped over a few jumps which had been set up. Anders watched him from a comfortable distance. This was all practice-- sort of, for a fox hunt that would no doubt occur later. Fenris was a beautiful sight, all muscle and sinew as he maneuvered the sleek black stallion around the field. After a moment he slowed his horse and, spirited, it tossed its head as Fenris trotted up to Anders.

Anders, too, was dressed in appropriate attire. He had on a similar red suit to Fenris, and wore a small black cap and had a riding crop and long black boots. He nodded at Fenris as he approached. "How's he feeling?" he asked, referring to the horse.

Fenris patted his steed's neck. "He's still young, but he'll make a fine hunter someday."

"Mm," said Anders. "You've trained him well."

"Since he was a foal," said Fenris. He smiled, earnestly, and that smile always warmed Anders' heart.

"So," said Anders. "Will you be attending the dance later tonight?"

"I wouldn't hear the end of it if I were to miss it," Fenris replied. He dismounted and held his horse's reins as he stood beside him. "I... will be going alone," he added, then, and looked away.

"I thought you were going to go with Isabela?" Anders said.

"I thought so too," said Fenris, "Until yesterday. But it turns out she has other plans and won't be able to make it." He shrugged. "I'm sure I won't be the only one going alone."

"I'll be by myself, too," said Anders.

Fenris looked over at him. "You? Alone?"

"Yeah," said Anders. He looked up at Fenris and although he wasn't sure, he thought he might have seen a gleam of hope in his eyes. Should he... should he...

Fenris coughed and changed the subject. "If you want to try to give him a run," he gestured to his horse, "I'm sure he'd appreciate the workout."

"Maybe later," said Anders, laughing nervously. The moment had passed and he had missed his opportunity, but it was alright. He would have another chance shortly.

 

\---

 

That other chance came after dinner. Anders knew exactly where to find Fenris: in the stables, with his horses. Unlike so many of his peers, Fenris preferred to take a more hands-on approach with his animals, and he was often found taking care of them himself rather than leaving their care to the servants. He wasn't dressed half as fancy here; instead he was in a simple outfit as he meticulously brushed the black stallion that he'd been exercising earlier. Anders, too, was in simple clothes. He leaned over the stable door. "Fenris," he said.

Fenris looked over at him. "Oh, Anders," he said. "Going for a ride?"

"I was, uh, hoping to talk to you, actually," said Anders. He'd felt so confident about this whole business in the last few hours but now he wasn't so sure. The brown gingham scarf he wore around his neck felt tight, suddenly, and he tugged at it a little. How was he supposed to even bring this up? Fenris was so far out of his league, a superlative horseman and good friend.

"Oh?" Fenris actually stopped brushing the horse, now, and turned around. "What about?"

"Uh..." Anders stammered. No, this was pathetic. He couldn't let Fenris see how pathetic he felt. He cleared his throat. He'd might as well just let it out, consequences be damned. "It's about that dance, actually. See, you said you were going alone, and, well... I am too, and I was thinking about that and..."

Fenris looked at him oddly for a few seconds, but then realization dawned on him. "You... want to go with me?" he asked.

"Yes," said Anders, forcing his voice to remain steady. Maker, but Fenris was beautiful when he blushed, which is exactly what he was doing right then.

"I... never thought you felt that way about me," said Fenris. He looked down and away. "I didn't know if anyone ever would."

Anders wanted to yell at him _are you kidding, you're beautiful, of course people feel this way about you_ , but instead he said, "I've admired you for a while. Your skill with riding, your way with the horses, and I... wanted to get to know you better."

"I suppose we could go together then, yes," said Fenris. He looked back up at Anders, now, and his eyes were wide and trusting.

Anders thought he could have fainted away, just then, from the way Fenris was looking at him. Perhaps everything was going to work out. Perhaps he and Fenris could finally be together, the way he'd been dreaming. Perhaps...

 

\---

 

Anders sat back and looked at everything he'd just written. It had felt okay when he was actually in the process of writing it, but looking at it now he wasn't so sure. It seemed overly romantic, overly sentimental. How come everything he wrote lately always ended up like this? Why couldn't he stop pining for Fenris? If his imagination could just leave the guy alone for a few seconds, he could get to work and actually write something to impress him with.

He looked at the clock. It was getting late and he should probably wrap up for the night. Well, he'd have two more days to come up with something. That was doable, right?


	8. Interlude Three

Anders desperately tried to avoid talking to Fenris at school the next day. He did catch himself looking at him, once or twice. He couldn't help it; the man was just too beautiful. But after lecture was over Anders decided to head to the library before Fenris could catch up to him. He got himself a coffee there and disappeared among the bookshelves. He was browsing rather aimlessly, trying to find something, anything, to inspire him. There had to be some sort of genre that would jumpstart a new and amazing idea in his brain. Some sort of sign. Something, anything.

He rounded a corner and thought he saw Fenris, and he jumped, but no, it was just someone who looked like him. He let out a breath of relief and realized he needed to relax. He would never get anything done in this anxious state. Besides, the longer he spent at the library the less time he would have to work on his script.

As he left, he passed by the science fiction section. Hmm.

By the time he arrived home he had the seed of a new idea in his head. Science fiction couldn't be turned into an absurd, melodramatic romance, could it? Well, maybe it could, but not if he kept it _hard_ science fiction. Aliens! Action! Drama! Laser gun fights! It would require special effects, but he could work around that if he was careful. Right?

Right. He would give it a shot. And this one was going to be good. In fact, he wouldn't even put Fenris in this one!

Feeling energized, he opened up a new word processor file and began to write.


	9. INT. THE STARSHIP NEPTUNE - DAY

"Welcome aboard, Commander Meatbag. I mean, Commanader Anders," said a robot as Anders boarded his new ship.

Anders looked over at the robot who was greeting him. "Meatbag?" he asked.

"I apologize, Commander. Do humans not wish to be called meatbags?"

"Most of us would prefer if you didn't," said Anders. "Commander Anders is just fine."

"Ah, excellent. I will try to keep that in mind, then, Commander Mea-- Commander Anders. Hmm. Hey, do you think I could call you Commanders for short? Get it? It's like Commander and Anders combined."

"Of course they had to send me the robot with a sense of humor," Anders muttered. He and the robot stood on a turbolift and they were both quickly whisked away to the command center. Here, Anders looked around at his new crew. Science Officer Merrill, Lieutenant Commander Isabela, and of course, First Officer Fen--

\--First Officer Varric.

Yes. Varric.

Varric was happy about his position as First Officer and welcomed Anders to the bridge with a smile and open arms. "Hey, Blondie," he said. "We've been waiting for you. There's a new mission with your name all over it."

"Really? Show me," said Anders.

A map of the galaxy appeared on the screen, notated with various points of interest, and Varric pointed them out to him. "As you can see, we have a few different missions we can undertake. Most of them are boring, you know, hop out to a planet, collect some resources, hop back, whoop dee doo. But this one. Look." Varric waved at the screen and it responded by zooming in on one rather frightening looking planet that was pulsating with energy. "This planet is under attack by an unknown force. And you know what that means."

Anders grinned. "Set a course," he said.

His crew responded swiftly, and Anders settled himself down in the Commanders' chair. Briefly. Everyone seemed to have everything under control, so he figured he would go and take a look around his new ship.

He had his robotic crew member lead the tour, and Anders was pleased to see that everything was in top condition. Everything had been built with the latest cutting edge technology, and the ship came with everything a crew would need for long-distance space exploration.  There was even a merchant district featuring his favorite store.  They went down into the armory and weapons' bay, and it was here that Anders first came across their head engineer, a handsome man with dark skin and white hair and—

 

—

 

Anders stopped typing and pushed himself away from the keyboard. No. No. He'd already decided he wasn't going to put Fenris into this one. But here he was, putting Fenris into it. Why? Why couldn't he keep Fenris out of his mind?

He took a deep breath to try to calm himself. Alright, no. This wasn't working. He was going to have to talk to Fenris and sort this out or he would never be able to finish his screenplay. He pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contact's list. There was Fenris' name, right there.

He dialed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the continuing comments and support so far! Pardon all my terrible jokes and references.


	10. Interlude Four

Immediately after dialing, Anders decided that this had all been a very bad idea, and he was seriously considering hanging up when he heard Fenris answer. “Hello?”

Oh Maker, but he had a beautiful voice. “Uh, hi, is this Fenris?” Anders asked, before immediately feeling stupid for doing so. Of course it was Fenris.

“This is,” Fenris replied. “Anders?”

“Yeah, um. I wanted to talk to you about that screenplay. I’m having some trouble with it, and uh, I guess I was wondering if maybe we could meet up and talk about it.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” said Fenris. He sounded happy about it, and Anders wasn’t sure if that meant he was happy to see _him_ or happy to work on the project. “When did you have in mind? After class tomorrow?”

If he had to wait all the way until the next day he was going to die. “How about tonight?” He looked at the clock; it was about dinner time. “Maybe for dinner?”

“Dinner?” Fenris sounded confused, and in a flush of embarrassment Anders realized why. It sounded like he had just asked him on a date.

“I mean, um,” Anders quickly tried to correct himself. “After dinner. We could meet up at the library or…”

“Dinner works, actually,” Fenris cut in. “I haven’t eaten anything yet. Does the sandwich place in the student union building work for you? I’m already on campus.”

By this point, Anders was terribly flustered, and the fact that Fenris was asking him out to dinner was just making it worse. “Umm, yeah! Yeah, we can do that. I’ll head over right now,” said Anders. He felt like he was stumbling over his words and he was desperately hoping that Fenris wouldn’t notice.

“I’ll see you shortly, then,” said Fenris, and he hung up.

 

Anders spent the next ten minutes silently freaking out and trying to decide if he should wear anything special or not to this little get-together. Finally he decided that, since Fenris had apparently been on campus all day, he would just be in his normal clothes so he should do likewise. He also tried to remind himself that this wasn’t a date. Not really. They were just getting together to talk about the project.

…which reminded him, he had no project to show.

Well, he had several half-baked ideas, all of which were incredibly embarrassing.

This meant he would have to admit to Fenris that he actually had nothing. He sighed. So much for impressing him.

 

Fenris was already at the sandwich shop when Anders arrived. In fact, he already had a sandwich. “Sorry,” he said with an apologetic grin. “I was hungry.”

“It’s fine,” said Anders, and he picked up his own sandwich before joining Fenris at the table. As he sat down he was worried that he would have to come up with some way to start the conversation, but as it turned out, he didn’t have to worry. Fenris was already talking.

“So,” said Fenris, “Tell me about this project. Did you bring it with you?”

“Well, uh, about that,” Anders began. The phrase _don’t screw it up, don’t screw it up_ was running circles in his head. He had no idea how to say this without sounding like a failure. Finally he said, “I actually have a few different ideas, and I wasn’t sure which one to go with, so…”

“You wrote more than one script?” asked Fenris.

 _Here we go_ , thought Anders. _Don’t lie. Tell him the truth._ “Um, actually…” he began tentatively. Fenris was looking at him expectantly. “I… have a whole bunch of half finished scripts,” Anders said at length. “Or, uh, more than half finished,” he added, desperately trying to salvage the situation. “Maybe three-quarters finished.”

“I thought you said you had one done?” Fenris asked. “Unless I misheard.”

“Oh, well, I mean, I had one done, but then I decided to scrap it,” Anders said, feeling pleased with his save. Okay, he would let himself lie this once, because it sounded good. “But anyways, I um, I don’t have a finished one, no.” He looked down.

“I see,” said Fenris with a rather expressionless voice.

Anders thought Fenris was going to say more, but he didn’t, so he said, “Anyways, if you have any input, I would appreciate it.”

“Well,” said Fenris. “Why don’t you pick the one that is the closest to finished, and we can go with that? I can help you with it, if you want.”

Anders would have thought this was a great idea, if not for the fact that all of his drafts so far involved Fenris. He supposed he could go in and do a find and replace and shove in a different name. But that didn’t change the fact that all of his scripts had turned into cheesy romance stories halfway through. “I could do that,” he said finally, responding to Fenris’ question. “But I don’t think any of them are any good.”

“I think you’re underestimating yourself,” said Fenris. “The reason I wanted to work with you in the first place is because I think you have a skill when it comes to writing.”

“Wait… you do?” Anders looked up at him from his food. He realized immediately afterward that this response was probably a bit pathetic, but he couldn’t help himself.

Fenris nodded. “I think we’ll work well together,” he said. “However, we do probably need to start filming soon. So if you need help finishing a script, let me know. I may not have the same knack for words that you do, but if you send me any of the drafts you have so far, I’ll see what I can do.”

 

When Anders returned home that night he felt marginally better about things. No, he still didn’t have a finished script. No, he still didn’t know what he was going to send to Fenris. But at least Fenris knew that he wasn’t done and seemed to actually be okay with this.

He sat down and looked through all of his unfinished screenplays. Something, somewhere, had to be salvageable. But the more he looked, the more unimpressed he was with his own work. He opened a file folder from a few years back filled with scripts he’d written as a freshman. Most of these he didn’t want to remember even existed, much less look at. But there was one, here, that Varric had particularly liked. Maybe he could rework that into something. He clicked on the file and opened it up.


	11. INT. DARK APARTMENT - NIGHT

The light from the monitor reflected off of Anders’ shades as he peered at the website in front of him. TemplarSoft thought they could have a monopoly on all computer programs across the world. They were wrong, of course. Information was meant to be free, and hackers would always be there to ensure that it was.

All it took was a little social engineering to break in through the webpage’s backdoor and take a look behind the scenes. _It’s a Unix system_ , he thought to himself.  _I know this._ He just needed to insert a few new lines into the code and…

There. Now all the files would be accessible to hackers around the world. As they should be. These programs would do so much more good in the hands of people who cared about them and could do good with them.

He leaned back. His walls were lined with newspaper clippings about various infamous hacks that he had performed throughout the years as well as a copy of The Hacker’s Manifesto (which he had, of course, written).   He was known throughout the internet by his handle, Apostate. It was a name he’d chosen himself, and he liked the connotations.

Anders was still basking in his latest victory when he heard a sudden rap at the door and he stiffened. Could it be the feds? Could they have tracked him down?

It was dark; it was night and Anders didn’t have any lights on. He preferred to work in the dark. Quietly he approached the door and peered through the peephole.

 

\---

 

This was where the script stopped. The project had been to write a script that ended on a cliffhanger, and Anders had done so and gotten a good grade on it. Now, though, he could finish it. And this time, he wouldn’t put Fenris in, no matter what.

Yeah, he definitely had this.

Anders went back to his screenplay.

 

\--

 

The person standing on the other side of the door was cloaked and Anders couldn’t see his face. He didn’t think it was the feds, but he wasn’t completely convinced. Who knew what tricks they would be up to.

That was when the person lifted their hood, just slightly, and Anders immediately recognized who it was. “Justice?”

He opened the door, letting him in. Justice was the online handle of another infamous hacker who had once gotten into some sort of hack war with Anders before the two of them had come to a truce out of respect. They had never actually met before. Justice lived far away. But Anders had seen his picture in news articles, because Justice had gotten into trouble with the law, once or twice. They called him a black hat hacker. He said he was simply bringing justice to those who needed it.

Justice nodded at Anders and lowered his hood as he entered. “Apostate, I presume?”

Anders nodded back. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Listen,” said Justice. “There’s not a lot of time to explain. We have a chance to take down TemplarSoft once and for all.”

“How?” asked Anders. “Haven’t we tried? They’ve got maximum security firewalls. There’s only so much we can do.”

“I have a plan,” Justice replied, “But I’m going to need your help. I’m going around and recruiting all the best hackers from around the world. You’ve heard of all of them, I’m sure.”

“Why can’t we do this all online?” Anders asked.

Justice looked around nervously. Then he said, “I’ve developed a new technology. One that’s years, maybe decades ahead of its time. It needs to be used in person.”

It was now that Anders noticed that Justice was holding a thick black suitcase, and Justice set it down on the floor and he knelt down next to it. Anders knelt down as well, curious. Justice then proceeded to open the case and pull out some sort of apparatus. It looked like a virtual reality device of some kind; a headpiece attached to a computer. There were wires and switches everywhere, and Anders had no idea what it was. “What is it?” he asked finally.

“You have heard of Project Silent Autumn?” Justice asked him.

Of course Anders had. Every hacker worth his or her salt had heard of that mythical project that could launch a person’s mind itself into cyberspace. But it was just a dream. Of course it couldn’t be real.

Or could it?

“Is this…?”

Justice nodded. “It’s a prototype. I’ve done a few test runs, myself, but I would do better helping to control it from the outside, because I know the program. I need someone to pilot it.” He looked up at Anders. “Can you?”

“Uh, well.” Anders was taken aback. “That’s a, um, tall order.”

“You won’t be alone,” said Justice. “I’ve got someone else who will be taking turns operating the machine with you. You’ve heard of Ghost, I presume?”

Anders nodded. Ghost was another hacker and one whom Anders had a rivalry with going back years. But maybe this time, with so much on the line, they’d be able to work together and—

 

\---

 

Anders paused and stared at the monitor. Whoo boy. He knew _exactly_ where this was going. Why? Why did his mind keep going back to Fenris?

Well. At least this time he had a decent start to a decent script.

He wanted to write more, but now Fenris was on his mind, so he decided to email what he had so far to Fenris to see what he thought. He exported the file, then attached it to an email and hit send. The email whizzed away, and Anders leaned back in the chair and let out a breath. Now he’d just have to wait and see how he replied.

…maybe there was something he could do while he was waiting.

After all, Anders may not have been a real hacker, but he _did_ know what Facebook stalking was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look I'm stuffing more silly book and movie references into this *innocent whistles*
> 
> Thanks for the kudos and comments so far, as always! I'm not 100% sure how pleased I am with this piece overall but I'm committed to finishing it now, so don't worry about that.


End file.
